A knock on the door of her cubicle has Taeyeon raising her head.

“Taeyeon?” Tiffany’s voice is soft. And weary. Probably worried that someone might overhear. “Are you okay?”

Taeyeon contemplates ignoring Tiffany, but that would make the meeting more difficult for them. Besides, she’s not really angry with Tiffany. It’s more like intense irritation and some amount of unhappiness. Tiffany should not have turned up dressed like that and she should not have risked their professionalism with her antics. But at the end of the day, no actual harm was done.

“Taeyeon?” Tiffany calls her again and it softens her heart just a tad.

“I’m here.”

“Are you angry?”

“A little.”

Taeyeon detects a soft sigh, followed by the sound of the tap running. “I didn’t mean for it to end up like this.”

Taeyeon knows it to be true. Tiffany is probably as surprised as she is that Damon’s leg had gotten involved. But Tiffany could have been more considerate of her concerns, especially after she had specifically told Tiffany about them. “I know.” She stands up and opens the door. Tiffany is leaning against the sink, staring at her with sorry eyes. “Let’s just go back to the meeting and get it done,” Taeyeon says as she washes her hands. Tiffany leans close when Taeyeon looks up and their lips meet for a second.

“Don’t be mad.”

Taeyeon can’t suppress the tiny smile that forms on her lips. Damn you, Tiffany.

Taeyeon leaves the toilet shortly after Tiffany and returns to the meeting room. Tiffany offers her a smile from across the table and Taeyeon finds it hard not to smile back. The rest of the meeting proceeds without any further incidents and they wrap up the meeting with a compromise in hand: The pool will lose a bit of its width while the columns will gain some thickness. This satisfies Tiffany’s safety requirements so the column in the middle of the pool is taken out of the equation. At last, Taeyeon will get her spacious open pool and Tiffany will have her safe, stable structure. Most would call this a happy ending. Especially after the weekend they spend together following that day. But Taeyeon doesn’t forget about the debt that Tiffany owes her. She is planning her revenge. And she is having fun doing it.

–

The phone vibrates and hums on the table top beside Taeyeon’s laptop. She picks it up and takes the call, her eyes still glued to the screen displaying another project—a luxurious Victorian spa house—she is in the midst of designing.

“Kim Taeyeon, you !”

“Sorry, you’ve got the wrong number.” After successfully stifling a giggle, Taeyeon ends the call and puts her phone back on the table, never lifting her eyes from the screen. The phone hums and skims over the table again but this time, she feels for the button that will end the vibration, presses it and ignores the call. Serves her right for pulling that stunt on me. Her lips slant into an expression of glee as her eyes fly over the dimensions of the entrance to the spa house. Her plan is to have a wide arch overhead with the semi-circular area divided into four pizza-like slices by placing three struts extending from the middle of the tie beam which is the base that connects everything together. There is just one problem. The tie is too thick and is ruining the balance of the design. She will have to ask the civil engineer to reduce the tie’s width. What is it with civil engineers and their penchant for thickening every single goddamn beam and column there is?

Her phone hums yet again. This time, she picks it up and holds it away from her ear before accepting the call.

“Kim Taeyeon! You’d better not hang up on me again!”

“This must be Miss Tiffany Hwang calling from URM regarding the mansion project.”

“Don’t be a smartass.”

Taeyeon lowers her voice in case someone can hear her. “My isn’t smart.”

“I hate you.”

Tiffany’s voice sounds lower than usual and Taeyeon thinks she heard it tremble but she can’t be sure. Unease sets in. Did she go too far? Maybe sending her a fish head wasn’t such a great idea. Tiffany had let on about her fear of fish eyes after refusing to eat the fish Taeyeon had ordered while on their third date. So what better way to take revenge than to send what she fears most to her in a pretty pink box? Well, it’s clearly not the best way, since Tiffany seems to be more affected by it than she had expected.

“It’s just a frozen fish head,” Taeyeon says in a light tone, trying to play it down. “And I put it in a pink box. Pink.”

“I really hate you,” Tiffany says and hangs up right after.

Taeyeon is left gaping with her phone against her ear. Oh no. Tiffany sounds really upset. But she doesn’t really hate me, does she? The uneasy feelings tag along with her all through the day but she is unable to right the wrong with anything more than a text message because they are doing the 3D rendering of another project tonight. Usually taking hours at a time, 3D rendering is not Taeyeon’s favourite part of the job and she is not alone. Currently, there are five other people in the office who would agree wholeheartedly with her on that.

Time flies in the world of an architect and before Taeyeon knows it, the sun has abandoned them. Dinner is ordered online and they pick up their food from the deliveryman, thereafter retiring to the pantry to eat it together. Taeyeon is hungry but with her conscience pricking her ever since Tiffany’s phone call, she excuses herself from the table to call Tiffany at her desk. As it turns out, karma kicks in and the call is not answered. It takes her not two but three calls. On the third ring of the third call, Tiffany finally answers. It is a relief to hear her voice again, even if it is flat and unenthusiastic.

“Tiffany, I . . .” Taeyeon trails off and takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry if the joke was a little too harsh . . .”

“When I told you about my fear, it was not an invitation to use it against me.”

“I’m sorry,” says Taeyeon, hugging the squishy pillow on her chair as her heart sinks. “I won’t do it again. Will you forgive me?”

“It’s really hard to forgive someone over the phone.”

Taeyeon sees the opening and jumps at it. “I’ll make it up to you. Tomorrow.”

“I don’t wanna wait till tomorrow.”

“Tonight. I’ll go to your place tonight.”

“Bring something good to drink.”

“Oh, crap.” Taeyeon smacks her forehead when she realizes she can’t leave the office so soon. “Tiffany, I have to stay late tonight. 3D rendering overtime. We’re actually having dinner now while waiting.”

“Can’t be helped then. Come over after work.”

“It might be midnight by the time I get to your place.”

“Well, whatever you bring had better be really good then.”

Taeyeon grins. “You got it!”

–

3D rendering has never felt longer. But it is Taeyeon’s duty to stay and oversee the project so she puts her urge to rush over to Tiffany’s away and concentrates on the job. They take turns to nap after dinner, an hour at a time and a cheer rings out from Ellie at about ten o’clock. Taeyeon gets up groggy and almost ends up rolling off the couch in the office. But she shakes it off and heads over to the computer. They spend the next hour looking at it and Taeyeon makes a few changes to some colours before calling it a night.

“Have a good rest tonight guys, our sleepless nights and office campouts are coming real soon.”

A chorus of groans fills the empty hallway as they troop out of the office and pile into the elevator.

“Hey Matt.” Ellie nudges the tall athletic-looking man in front of Taeyeon. “Did you manage to ask her out?”

Taeyeon pricks her ears up to listen and almost curses when Matt replies in the positive.

“Really? So when’s the date,” Ellie asks.

“It’s not so much a date as a coffee break.” Matt coughs awkwardly. “But I’ll work on it.”

“Coffee, huh.” Ellie looks impressed. The other office mates clap Matt on his back, congratulating him on scoring with the cute CE. “That’s a good start.”

Matt grins and nods. “Yeah.”

Taeyeon can’t hold it in anymore. She knows who Matt and Ellie are talking about, but she has to check. Just to make sure. “We’re talking about the pretty CE I met in the toilet, right?”

Ellie turns to Taeyeon and grins. “Yeah.”

Still unconvinced, Taeyeon asks Matt, “So, where’s the coffee date?”

“The café a few streets from here. She said she likes the strawberry shortcake there,” says Matt and Taeyeon is shocked. Matt wouldn’t know Tiffany’s favourite dessert unless he did actually talk to her and if he talked to her, that would mean the coffee date is real too . . .

The elevator dings and everyone heads for their cars. Taeyeon smiles and waves goodbye but her heart is not in the mood to be happy. Not in the least.

–